MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 11 Nov 11

Remembering (1) Different generations remember different things (but aren’t entirely different). “Gus MacGillivray spent four years on Canadian and British ships in the North Atlantic during the Second World War, hunting submarines and fighting off the navy of one of the world’s most powerful militaries. Mat Belear served two tours of duty in the desert of Afghanistan, trying to push back the Taliban’s guerrilla army and give the Afghans a fighting chance at establishing a democratic government. The experiences of these two men illustrate just how much warfare has changed over the decades and the extent to which the notion of veteranhood is being steadily redefined. But when they met for the first time, at the Amherstview Legion near Kingston, they had a lot of things in common ….”

Remembrance (3) What happens down the road?“Approximately 10 per cent of the one million Canadians who fought in the Second World War are alive today, and according to Veterans Affairs Canada, they’re dying at a rate of about 50 every day. Factor in their average age of 87 years old — which tops the average Canadian’s life expectancy of 79 years for men and 83 for women — and at that rate, the numbers suggest the 125,000 surviving Second World War veterans will be gone soon — very soon. When the “Greatest Generation,” as they are known, has disappeared Canadians will lose the faces and voices most closely associated with Remembrance Day ….”

Afghanistan (3) More from the CF Info-Machine on packing up in Kandahar. “In October 2011, the Mission Transition Task Force (MTTF) fielded a team of specialist technicians to service the airfield lights on the civilian side of Kandahar International Airport. Mounted on poles in banks soaring to 75 feet, the lights help ensure safe landings for aircraft and their crews and passengers. None had seen any maintenance in more than a year ….”

More on Cherry & RMC. “…. One teacher is not the principal villain here. The fault lies with RMC’s leadership for not rallying with a fighting spirit to defend its decision. One hopes that RMC has sufficient battlefield courage to see off the fabrications of a lowly French teacher. It was likely the motion of the faculty board, comprising all the professors and chaired by the principal, which cowed the administration. That poses a rather more disturbing question. Does the faculty board motion accurately express the professoriate at RMC? If so, our future officers are being trained by those significantly out of step with the Canadian people and the rank-and-file members of the armed forces ….” Good questions.